


Do dreams come true?

by lisifus



Series: The unknown journey continues [1]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Angst, Intimacy, Kissing, Passion, Romance, Sexual Tension, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, f/m - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:13:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28026840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lisifus/pseuds/lisifus
Summary: Fresh from defeating destiny, a haggard group arrive in the town of Kalm. Reflections on the crisis facing the planet gives way to grief. In desperate need of rest, Cloud's state of mind is deteriorating. A cocktail of exhaustion, alcohol, and emotional unrest brings Cloud to seek out Aerith and find himself in a familiar situation. Is this de ja vu? Will his dreams come true? The future isn't set in stone.
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Cloud Strife
Series: The unknown journey continues [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2079324
Comments: 16
Kudos: 33





	Do dreams come true?

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at writing fanfiction or posting my creative writing online. I was really inspired by Final Fantasy VII: Remake, but also wanted to continue on from the original story. I think one of the main reasons people love FF7 is because Cloud is such a beautifully complex character. I wanted to explore what would happen if he just let himself go a little. I am thinking to write more, but am not sure yet. Would love to hear what people think!

1.

It was dusk when they arrived in Kalm. They had been walking for hours across the open planes from Midgar, a pathetic rain following their every footstep. The events of the last twenty-four hours had gradually caught up to everyone in the group. The damp in their clothes had seeped deep through to their bones, their boots lagged in the mud, the weight of destiny was heavy on their shoulders. The final leg of their journey was carried out in near silence, with only the occasional question of rest and a retorting encouragement to keep moving just that little bit further.

By the time they reached the town their feet were numb. They clambered into the Inn and settled themselves into their respective rooms. As they peeled off the sodden layers and showered off the remnants of their battles the appeal of sleep was strong, but the feeling of hunger was stronger. All of them had agreed to collect one final time for the day over dinner. Gradually they gathered in the far corner of the Inn’s pub. Cloud was the last to arrive, slinking himself down at the end of the table. “Yo man - you’re late!” Barret bellowed from across the table, his hunger seeping out as irritation. “Sorry to keep you waiting” he replied meekly.

Perhaps it was the hospitable nature of Kalm folk or the site of this ragged band of strangers and their lab rat dog that cried out for care, whatever the reason the table was laid promptly with an array of hearty dishes and glasses were filled with cold beer. As if reaping the benefits of an elixir, their personalities began to resurface with every swallow. It wasn’t long before the silence was lifted, and Barret was recounting precisely how he’d forced destiny to look down the barrel of his bionic arm. “I sure gave ‘em hell! Ain’t nobody messin’ with AVALANCHE, not even destiny!” he rumbled flailing his intact arm in the air.

“Settle down Barret” Tifa pled, amused by his enthusiasm “this isn’t Seventh Heaven, this is the country and we don’t want to draw too much more attention to ourselves.” She placed a calming hand on his arm and smiled nervously. “I know, I know, I’m jus sayin’ the shit we jus’ been through you’d think we’d be celebrating, but we’re jus sittin’ here like it’s somebody’s funeral.” He replied, bringing down his arm and his tone. “You’re forgetting Sephiroth is still out there” came the timid voice from the hunched figure at the other end of the table. “We… I had the chance to finish him again and I didn’t.” Cloud’s eyes were fixed down on the only plate of food at the table that was untouched. He could feel the glare of every person in the group fall on him, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to look at them. “Cloud!” Tifa gasped from across the table “You can't be so hard on yourself.”

He listened to her voice, there was comfort in her reassuring tone, but he couldn’t hear her words. As soon as the noise came it left like a wisp of smoke, intangible and void of substance. Instead he filled the emptiness with the internal noise of his memories. The sharpness of metal blades clashing, the overwhelming roar of rubble flying through the sky, a ghostly figure praying, the menacing hiss of Sephiroth’s goading remarks. Seven seconds till the end. What had he meant by seven seconds till the end?

“Alright, enough!” Barret said, the heat in his voice returning. “I get that Sephiroth has history with you, but I ain’t never heard why. So, let’s hear your story, Merc. You know the one about Sephiroth and the crisis facing the planet. Let’s hear it all.” The atmosphere at the table had hushed. Cloud peered up from under the locks of his golden hair, to meet Aerith’s emerald stare, her brows furrowed with concern and curiosity. His heart hit his chest with a jolt that brought his head up right. In that moment he was hit with a whirling fantasy of her lifeless body somewhere far away, somewhere cold.

“Cloud?” Tifa encouraged him from the other end of the table. Her voice knocked him back to reality, and he mustered the strength to begin “I… I used to want to be like Sephiroth, so I joined SOLDIER. After working with him on several missions, we became friends.”

“You call that a friend?” Barret bellowed, Tifa’s arm raised again to silence him, this time with less patience. “Yeah, well…” Cloud continued “He was older than me and he hardly ever talked about himself.” The silence at the table was palpable. “So, I guess you would call him a war buddy… We trusted each other. Until one day…’ his thought trailed off. He felt a gentle warmth on his hand and found Aertih’s eyes searching his again “…one day?” she said softly. This tender exchange overcame him, and he pulled away, attempting perhaps to reset his fragile form back into the steely exterior the group had become accustom to.

He continued now to tell them all of how he had journeyed with Sephiroth some five years previous, back to his hometown of Nibelheim. They had been assigned the task of supressing any resistance against Shinra in the wake of the war with Wutai. They were on their way to visit a malfunctioning Mako reactor with reports of monsters that had escaped. He recounted his excitement at having the opportunity to work alongside the most heralded war hero of the time. His presence was commanding, he possessed the kind of seriousness you’d expect from a human weapon. Each of the few words he uttered were loaded with authority and commanded respect, yet he had humoured Cloud’s uncharacteristic enthusiasm at the time and taken him under his wing. When they arrived in Nibelheim the town was eerily quiet. Cloud had been ordered to get some rest before embarking for the Mako reactor early in the morning, but the opportunity to visit his mother and to see his childhood friend was irresistible.

“Cloud?” Tifa asked curiously “Did you go to my house?”

“Yeah” he replied meeting her brown stare “I thought you might be home…”

“Did you go into my room?”

“Yeah” he swallowed a small smirk evolving from his usual look of intensity “and I found orthopaedic underwear”.

“Cloud!!!” she squealed slamming her palms on the table. Barret relished the opportunity to smugly raise a hand to calm her this time.

“Just kidding.” he added quickly, unsure exactly how this moment of humour had erupted from him “Don’t get mad.”

“Cloud, we’re talking about something really important here” she protested, folding her arms and leaning back unimpressed.

He continued the story, recounting how the next morning Tifa had guided them up to the reactor. “You remember, they took our picture outside Shinra Mansion?” Tifa sat back unresponsive, so Cloud continued. “When they got to the reactor, they discovered the various experiments Hojo had been conducting, mutating living organisms, even members of SOLDIER, using Mako and creating monsters. Sephiroth became enraged by this revelation and started questioning whether he had been part of this twisted experiment Hojo had concocted. He tore the lab apart and then disappeared. They found him later in the Shinra Mansion, he’d locked himself away reading all the materials he could find, searching desperately for answers. I had tried to console him, but he had become obsessed by the human greed he had discovered – how they had stopped the Ancient Cetra’s migration to the promise land and raped their bodies of energy in the name of human progress. Then came the confirmation that Sephiroth was the product of this human ‘progress’, an experiment in which Hojo had conceived him from Jenova.

Cloud peered around him at his attentive audience. He took a moment to collect himself before continuing. “He lost it, he just… he was furious… he set the whole village on fire. The town, our homes, my Mother, my life.” The memories were returning, raging. The heat of the flames, the screaming, the cries for help. Cloud covered his face with his hands, but the smell of his beaten leather gloves did nothing but reignite the memory of burning flesh. There was a moment of stillness in the group. Each one of them had known loss, but none of them had quite realised the trauma Cloud had witnessed. Except for Tifa, whose village it was also. She continued to sit back with her arms folded, but now her eyes were filled with a mixture of anguish and something else. Cloud continued to describe how he’d found Tifa’s father dead outside the reactor, how he’d found Tifa lying semi-conscious in the lab and carried her to safety. He then pursued Sephiroth, after which his story trailed off.

It was only a mere moment before Barret erupted again. “Wait a damn minute! That’s it? No more?” Cloud tried hard to think, but the facts escaped him. “I don’t remember” he gasped closing his eyes in an effort to will the memories forward. But it was no use. What was clear to everyone was that the news reports of Sephiroth’s death had been mere propaganda – the last thing Midgar had needed during the newly arrived peace time was a killing machine of their own making out on a vengeful rampage.

The party sat at the table stunned for words, only to be revived by the welcome arrival of the waitress. “Can I get you guys another round of drinks” she smiled sweetly, pen and paper in hand. Tifa burst out an affirmative plea whilst Barret held two fingers up requesting a double of something hard. “And you sir?” she asked leaning into Cloud who had hardly noticed her presence – “Ugh… yeah, sure…” There was a rustling to his side that shook him from his daze. “I think, my new friends, that I have reached my limit for today” came the dog like figure of Red XIII. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a real bed” and with that he clambered down from the table and sauntered upstairs. “And you miss?” the waitress asked to the final member of the team.

Aerith sat for a moment thinking. With Red XIII’s absence at the table Cloud now sat directly opposite her. He watched her as she engaged politely with the girl in the apron. What she said evaded his fragile attention, he simply observed the soft smile of her eyes, the wrinkle of her nose as she spoke, the way her head gently bobbed as she concluded the exchange. He was reminded now of the last few days, the promise he’d made to Elmyra to leave Aerith alone. “You boys made a trade” she had said after she’d caught wind of his affiliation with SOLDIER “a normal life, for power”. Such words of rejection had landed on an ever-wounded part of himself. He hadn’t wanted to get Aerith wrapped up in all this, but here she was, miles away from home, away from the steel sky. He’d had no idea of her secret Cetra heritage. He’d thought countless times how if he’d only known he would have protected her more. That sentiment had lingered in his dreams, as had that glimmer in her eyes. He had to remind himself that she was real. The girl sitting before him was really there, tired and exhausted, but safe from harm.

In that moment Aerith turned from the waitress and her eyes fell into his. The room slowed to a near halt as they observed one another. They had barely spoken since they left Midgar. Cloud had felt so overwhelmed by the encounter with Sephiroth, but she too had gone quiet, had temporarily lost herself somewhere. In that moment he searched her eyes, wondering where that place might be. Reminded of her warm touch he had earlier recoiled, he was suddenly filled with an aching regret. He wanted so much to know if she was ok, to feel that warmth from her once more. With what energy he had left he tried to conceal what he felt, but there was not enough to prevent the twitch in his brow from revealing himself to her. Aerith’s face, however, was unusually void of feeling. He thought he had caught at least a flicker of magic in her eyes, but what was most evident was the fatigue that shadowed her angelic face. He ruminated on how he had brought this whole ordeal on her. He felt overcome with the shame of his vulnerability and the desire for her warmth attending him when she herself had been through so much. The intensity of the moment burned into his chest, and his gaze fell away from her to the table, the plate, cutlery, Barret, Tifa, anything.

“Just what the doctor ordered!” Barret laughed as he reached across Cloud to retrieve the shots the waitress had delivered. “One for you” he said sliding the first to Tifa. “Two for me, and three for you” he concluded slapping Cloud firmly on the back. “Nothing cures memory loss like hard up liquor” he laughed. “Yea right!” Tifa joined in with a chuckle “sure we can’t tempt you to join us Aerith? Just one?” She smiled in response “thanks guys, but I think I’m going to follow Red’s lead and head up. But, enjoy one on me alright?” Her chipperness despite her fatigue was agony for Cloud and he barely lifted his head to wish her goodnight. The noise of the bar grew steadily louder as she walked away, as did Cloud’s ache.

“Alright, so let’s get this party started” Tifa urged drumming her palms on the table. Her sudden up-beat liveliness irked Cloud and he cut her a glare. Had she not been paying attention to his story? Had she forgotten their burning childhood home? The tragedy? But Tifa knew this judgemental look of his well. “Hey! We gotta get through this somehow ok?” she said leaning herself into him. “We’re alive and we have a long journey ahead of us, so we better take the moment whilst it lasts, am I right?” He reflected on the familiarity of this sentiment, he was sure he had heard that somewhere before. He took a deep resigning sigh, running a hand through his blond hair “Sure.” And together they picked up their shots, toasted Nibelheim, and downed them in one go.

2.

Despite Barrett’s call for celebration, the drinking became a makeshift wake. The only kind of celebration that felt appropriate in that moment was the celebration of those they’d lost or whose fate they did not know. Cloud sat peering down dauntingly at the remaining shots on the table. He had never been one to hold his liquor. The exhaustion and alcohol were now beginning to swill around in his mind. He felt himself loosen and focused his efforts on keeping his thoughts together as he listened to Barrett and Tifa reminisce about what had happened to each of their fellow AVALANCHE members. Tifa’s voice broke as she exhumed the sadness of having lost Jessie, one of her dearest friends. She had given everything for the mission, she’d given up her acting dreams and taught herself explosives. After the explosion in rector 5 she’d been so hard on herself, but did she ever know how capable she was, how she had been so instrumental to AVALANCHE’s success? They wondered about how they would get the message to her parents, Barret wished he could tell them in person, tell them she had died for a cause she believed in and save them the distress of finding her name on a list somewhere on some bulletin board, or worse having her name dragged by Shinra propaganda. Cloud felt his chest tighten, he knew the pain of losing a parent, but what must it feel to lose a child? They would miss her, that mischievous grin. Her face erupted into his memory, how he’d found her on the stairway of the sector 7 column. She had teased him right to the end. He felt the corners of his lips curl up as his eyes grew hot and wet.

Talk turned to Biggs and Barrett recalled how he’d been there since the very beginning, when AVALANCHE first formed. He’d been working at Leaf House orphanage before then, he was so passionate about nurturing those children and doing everything in his power to ensure there was a future for them to look forward to. The two of them were polar opposite in so many ways but they had bonded over this, Barrett too wanted a future for his daughter. Biggs had brought a calm and collected force to the team, so willing to put himself at risk and never showing an ounce of fear. Cloud silently remembered Biggs’ warmth, his generosity when Cloud had helped the community watch. Even at the very end, when he was so badly injured his thoughts were of others, of the children, and downplaying the severity of his own situation. The memory couldn’t escape him; Biggs clutching his wounds but reassuring Cloud that there was still some fight left in him. The both of them had known in that moment Cloud had to press forward, that he was needed elsewhere. Cloud’s head felt heavy, had he left him there to die?

Tifa laughed as she spoke of Wedge with a quiver in her voice. Who would taste her cooking now? Barrett chimed in to ask who would take care of the cats? For a brief moment Cloud looked up at them both, to see their laughing smiles and their grieving eyes. “People so often underestimated Wedge” Barrett continued his hands rolling a shot glass around on the table. “He was an easy target for others, so sincere.” Barrett confessed how in the beginning he had doubted Wedge, assuming he’d only joined AVALANCHE because of his friends. But in the end what difference did that make? Wedge’s loyalty to his friends was greater than so many other people’s commitment to the planet. In so many desperate moments, Wedge had bravely been there for the team. “Heck, he’d gone into the Shinra headquarters alone to rescue Aerith!”

Cloud recoiled at the mention of her name. He didn’t want to be reminded of how he’d put her in danger, but his absence from the conversation meant he had no say. The current of Barrett and Tifa’s dialogue flowed to events that happened before the fall of sector 7. Those tense moments they returned to find the slums in chaos. “I’m just so grateful my little girl is safe” Barrett exclaimed, his relief was palpable. “I dunno what I would have happened if Aerith hadn’t found her.”

“Yea, she really threw herself in didn’t she?” Tifa added. “I knew there was something about her, you know? Something, a little bit different. Wouldn’t you say so Cloud?” He shrugged in response. Maybe now was the time to have another one of those shots? Barrett must have caught wind of this and slapped him jovially on the shoulder “I see what you’re thinking, already ready for round two right? I’m with you, let’s get Tifa another” and he gestured to the waitress. Cloud felt a wash of anxiety, and before the waitress arrived, he slid his third shot over the table to Tifa “You can have this one” he said before downing the second “I think I’m done for the night” and pushed back against the table in an effort to leave. “What, already?” Tifa exclaimed. “Come on Cloud, it’s good to talk about this.” He was standing by now, his departure imminent. “I think the drink is just getting to me” he shrugged. “The drink? Alright Merc, Mr Tough guy who can’t handle his drink.” Barrett laughed “You know the best way you learn to handle your drink, right? Drinking.” But Cloud didn’t rise to this bait, as the waitress arrived to take the next round of orders he gave them both another shrug, a pathetic effort to wish them good night

Climbing the staircase Cloud felt the pressure on his emotional flood gates wax as the feeling of loss inside him swelled. The faces of every person he’d lost flashed rapidly inside his mind, his friends, his mentors, his family. Death and danger felt so familiar to him, but such familiarity brought no comfort, only an aching anxiety. He reasoned with himself that he could cope with losing those he loved, death was a part of life. But it was being responsible for such tragedies he couldn’t handle. In that moment it was Aerith’s dishevelled appearance that came to his mind, and he relived the moment he discovered her true identity. If he’d only known, he never would have let her go off on her own to find Marlene. She had needed protection, damn it. That’s what she had said all along. She had needed a bodyguard.

He gripped hold of the banister and steadied himself, determined not to succumb to the whirl of feeling. He closed his eyes, focusing steadily on his breath. The warm air of the inn rushed into his lungs. The smoky smell of burning logs from the chimney downstairs, the ash tinging the back of his throat. He listened hard for the chattering voices coming from the pub, but they were stifled now by a metallic ring pulsing between his ears. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been paralysed there on the stairway, but he was grateful it wasn’t long enough for anyone to find him. Slowly, he recovered his senses and peeled his fingers from the banister, pushing ever forward, up the sturdy oak stairs.

By the time he reached the landing he had let go of the idea that it was the alcohol and exhaustion that was getting to him, convinced his failure to be the true culprit. As he turned to his bedroom door, his attention was captured down the hall to the slither of light coming from Aerith’s room. He felt his body move, an automaton taking him towards the open door. He wasn’t sure what he was going to say. What if she was asleep? What if he was disturbing her? But with every step the courage of alcohol seeped deeper into him. His doubts slipped past and he was driven now by a yearning to know that she was ok. He had to see her before he could let himself rest. He raised his fist to tap gently on door, feeling it give way a little with each knock. “Come in” he heard a sweet voice call from inside. He pushed on the door and slid inside, before softly pressing it closed behind him.

3.

Aertih was perched on a bed at the far end of the room looking out of the window. Away from the fluorescent atmosphere of Midgar, the universe emerged across the sky. The sound of the door latch stirred her attention away from the captivating view. “Cloud?” she said with surprise “ – I didn’t know it was you.” Quickly, she gathered herself from off the bed to stand before him. Cloud mumbled an apology. “I can go” she pieced together as his hand reached swiftly for the door handle.

“Oh no! I didn’t mean that, I meant I just wasn’t expecting it to be _you_. I thought it would be Tifa, that’s all.” She smiled, gesturing to the bed across from her.

He felt a twinge of relief ripple across his face before he could compose himself. He was too late, of course. He was well aware by now of Aerith’s perceptual talents and in his intoxicated state he felt himself more visible. He stood awkwardly by the door, his gaze dwindling down to the floor.

“Cloud is everything alright?” she asked.

His response was part word, part gesture. Neither of which were evident, but this did not hinder her ability to successfully piece together his frame of mind.

“You look pretty tired” she continued.

“Yea, I guess I am”

“How were the shots?” she grinned.

“I’m not a very good drinker” he responded, with a sheepish curl in his lips.

He looked up from his embarrassment, letting her gaze comfort him. His eyes wandered carefully about her face. Two jewels set within her porcelain face.

“Was there something you needed?” she asked cutting through the silence.

“Yea. I just… I wanted to see if you were ok?”

It was a moment before she responded to him. “Well, I’m here aren’t I?” she said playfully, flinging her arms out to the side. He detected some disingenuousness in this display. Her withdrawal from the group, from him over the last day was clear.

“We… I… I’ve been worried about you” he said resolutely.

“Worried about me?”

“Of course. You’ve barely said a thing since we left Midgar.”

She was silent. Her gaze fell away from him and he felt a hollowing within himself. Cloud took a cautious step closer to her and continued “I thought maybe you were missing home? Maybe it was a mistake you came?”

“Mistake I came?”

“Maybe you wish you hadn’t come, that you hadn’t gotten mixed up in all of this. With AVALANCHE, with me.”

“Cloud don’t be silly.”

His gaze moved gently down her neck. The light cast a dark tide between her breasts that rose and fell as she breathed.

“Cloud, what are you really trying to say?” she persisted.

He was struck dumb by this, or perhaps it was the liquor that blurred his thoughts. His motivations evaded him. What did he want from her? He thought back to the dinner, to the conversation, to the stairway, to the guilt, to the failure, to the failure to protect her.

“I…” he began, mustering the confidence he’d lost. “I’m sorry I got you into all this. This whole thing. You asked me to protect you and I didn’t. Elmyra told me to leave you alone and I didn’t. And now you’re here, away from everything you know.”

The revelation of his guilt hushed the peaceful room to a painful, deafening silence. He felt his body tremble as we clenched his eyes. The echo of materia dropping into water rumbled from somewhere deep inside him.

“Cloud?” He felt her draw closer to him. “Cloud, what are you saying? I’m here because I want to be here. I’ve been running away from the Turks, from Shinra, all my life. It wouldn’t have stopped if I’d stayed in Midgar. AVALANCHE is trying to protect the planet, protect the legacy of my ancestry. How could I sit by and not be part of that?”

“But it’s dangerous.”

“I know Cloud, but you’re here with me.”

“But what if I lose…” he couldn’t bring himself to say the words. He felt his gut constrict and the thumping of his heart erupt through his body. Feverishly he degloved his hands and ran his damp palm through his hair.

The touch of her cool fingers on his burning cheek was a balm on his restless mind. Her tenderness granting him permission to open his eyes. “I am _so_ glad I met you Cloud. You have made me so much happier than you know. I will always treasure our time together. But, you can’t fall…”

“No” he interrupted hotly, wrapping his hand around hers to enclose the thought. He knew what she was about to say, and he couldn’t bear to hear it. He looked pleadingly into her eyes “Don’t say it, Aerith.” She was still. “It’s too late.”

He pulled her gentle hand to his lips, letting the grit of his cheek brush against it. He kissed her delicate fingers, her smooth palms, her elegant wrists. He couldn’t resist and she didn’t stop him. Instead she was crystallised by his show of vulnerability. In the face of violence he had only ever been strong in his resolve, his impenetrable persona was all she knew of him. But now he was exhausted, intoxicated, his state of mind fragile. Their eyes met one last time, and she felt the infectiousness of his heat build in her eyes and roll gently down her face. He wiped the silver stream away with a tender caress of his thumb and she fell into him. The thudding of their hearts echoing one another. He reached back to cradle her head and pressed his lips to hers.

Their touch electrified his body, the intensity washing over every inch of him. His mind was illuminated now by every mental snapshot he’d taken of her since they’d met. The sparkle of her emeralds when she had handed him that flower. Her angelic presence when he first opened his eyes on the church floor. The weight of her body falling into his arms when she fell from the roof. The touch of her fingers on his palm as they celebrated victory in the battle arena. The allure of her curves revealing themselves to him in that red dress. The moment of warmth as he held her trembling body in the train graveyard. Every word. Every look. Every touch. Each of these moments now erupted out of his lips and poured into her.

He became weightless as she responded to him, her body sighing with an equally seismic relief at their coming together. Her mouth parted and the warm moisture of her tongue grazed his lips. He welcomed her, opening himself up to let her in. They let their tastes flow between them. Tenderly he caressed the back of her head, letting the electricity flow through his other hand as it searched her back. He gripped at the folds of her dress, his body now aching to feel her closer. To touch his hands to her body. To put his lips on her skin.

“Cloud!” she exclaimed breathlessly as she pushed him back. “Cloud, I… we shouldn’t” she stumbled disoriented in the haze of passion. He summoned all his energy to restrain himself but kept her firmly in his embrace. Aerith looked down, her body growing stiff “Cloud you’re exhausted, you’re drunk. Don’t do this.” These words of rejection stung deep into him. His head was light, but he knew what he wanted. He opened his mouth, but the words escaped him. In that moment he only knew he wanted to hold her, to touch her body, to give her safety, to bring her pleasure. What words should he say to make her understand that? Surely, she felt it too? He swallowed the aching urges back, reluctantly prying his arms from around her. Silent howls of emotion stormed between them as they stood there motionless. His heart beat mercilessly at his chest, punishment for being so reckless. Her searching eyes on him were torture and he dared not meet her gaze. He gathered himself, and with as much dignity as he could muster turned and left the room, closing the door gently behind him.


End file.
